Female Staffers Quit Talking Dead Upon Chris Hardwick's Return

Sunday

Talking Dead returns to AMC Sunday night following the premiere of the second half of Fear the Walking Dead's fourth season, but some members of the aftershow's crew won't be there for it.

Following the reinstatement of host Chris Hardwick after the network conducted an investigation into allegations of sexual and emotional abuse by Hardwick's ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra, one female executive producer and a "handful" of female staffers on the show have quit, The Wrap reports.

Dykstra wrote an essay on Medium in June detailing an unnamed former boyfriend -- who was quickly uncovered to be Hardwick -- who was described as over-controlling, sexually demanding and vengeful after their breakup, to the point where Dykstra feels she was blackballed from the industry. Hardwick vehemently denied the allegations.

AMC pulled Hardwick as hosts of several of its shows and moderator of The Walking Dead franchise Comic-Con panels, bringing on superfan Yvette Nicole Brown to take over while the investigation was being conducted. AMC said its investigation found no wrongdoing, and brought Hardwick back into its fold.

After the controversy, Hardwick's name was also pulled from the Nerdist website, the company which he helped found. Hardwick's name has since been put back on the site.